Traction control systems generally use engine intervention or a combination of braking and engine intervention to reduce wheel slip at the driven wheels of the vehicle. It has been found that various vehicles exhibit driveline shudder during traction control events, especially on very low coefficient of friction surfaces. The shudder appears to be invoked by engine pulsations that occur when operating the vehicle at reduced torque using cylinder deactivation during traction control events. The frequency of the vibration corresponds to the expected natural frequency of the engine mass and tire masses connected together by the half shafts. Engine oscillations are hard to detect and thus the damping source comes from the road surface itself.
It is therefore desirable to reduce driveline shudder in a vehicle by controlling the operation of the engine so that the road surface may reduce the driveline shudder.